Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., officially launched her presidential campaign on Sunday with a speech outside the Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York City, where she said she wants voters to know that no one in the Senate has done more than she to fight President Donald Trump.
"I’m proud to have stood up to Donald Trump more than anyone else in the U.S. Senate," she said.
"I will go toe-to-toe with anyone to do the right thing, whether it’s powerful institutions, the president, or even my own party," Gillibrand continued. "But I am not running for president because of who I’m fighting against. I’m running for president because of who I’m fighting for."
Gillibrand called for making health care a right, passing Medicare for all. She also called for ensuring universal pre-Kindergarten for all children and making higher education affordable, refinancing student debt to lower rates.
Gillbrand also said making full employment would be a national priority, investing in free job training through apprenticeships and educational training programs, and she called for raising the minimum wage and for a national paid family and medical leave program.
Gillibrand also called for criminal justice reforms, including ending cash bail and legalizing marijuana.
The senator criticized Trump's national security and foreign policies as well, including his call for a wall at the southern border and policy that resulted in the separation of families at the border.
"Racism and fear is not a national security strategy," Gillibrand said.
In addition, she called for passing the Green New Deal and other environmental protections to fight the "existential threat" of global climate change.
"Let's make this our generation's moon shot," she said.
The two-term senator launched an exploratory presidential committee in January, but so far, she has not taken off in the polls despite being one of the more prominent members of Congress running for the Democratic Party's 2020 nomination.
Gillibrand has positioned herself as a leader of the #MeToo movement and was the first senator to call for then-Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., to resign after multiple women accused him of sexual harassment.
On Sunday, she said Trump is "tearing apart the moral fabric of our country" and "demonizes the vulnerable" by punching down.
"He puts his name in bold on every building," Gillibrand said. "He does all of this because he wants you to believe he is strong. He is not. Our president is a coward."
"And that is not what we deserve, that is not what you deserve," the senator said. "We deserve a president who is brave, a president who will walk through fire to do what is right."
The White House did not immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment.
Gillibrand pointed to the Trump building she was speaking in front of as "a shrine to greed, division and vanity.
"And now look around you," she said. "The greater strength, by far, is ours."
